Black and White and Loving Vanilla Bean

My sister’s 23^rd birthday is coming up, and she is having a cocktail party* to celebrate.  The color scheme for the evening is black and white so I am helping out by baking desserts with those colors.  The first thing that came to my mind was black and white cheesecake bars.  That is slightly ironic given that Jessica doesn’t like cheesecake.  However, she doesn’t eat gluten either, so most of the desserts are not even for her.

*way for twenty-somethings to get drunk and feel classy

I started by adapting this recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate Cheesecake Bars.  I swapped gingersnap crust with Oreo and got rid of the pumpkin.  But then I thought, how could make it even more special?  Instead of using just a plain cheesecake layer for the “white”, I made it vanilla bean.  Wow, this took the dessert to a whole new level.  I’d never baked with vanilla bean before and I think I might be hooked!  When you take a bite of the Chocolate and Vanilla Bean Cheesecake Bars, you get a sweet creamy layer and then that chocolate crunch from the crust.  The rich chocolate cheesecake layer comes through next, but then when you think you are done, the vanilla bean kicks in.  Layers of flavors are what make desserts stand out.  Make these.

To make the crust, grind up about 17 Oreos in a food processor

Set cookie crumbs aside

Melt butter; add melted butter and sugar to cookie crumbs

Press mixture into a 9×13 pan lined with tin foil and cooking spray; spread evenly using fingers to push down crust mixture and set aside

To make your cheesecake filling, beat cream cheese in mixer until light, creamy and lumps are gone (about 5 minutes)

Add granulated sugar and combine on medium-high speed well until light and creamy

Beat in eggs, one at a time, on medium speed

Mix in flour on medium speed

Add your vanilla extract and salt and beat until your mixture is thick and creamy

Now, separate 1/2 of the cheesecake filling and set aside in a separate bowl

Split the vanilla bean open with a sharp knife

Scrape out the awesomeness of the vanilla bean with the back of the knife

Add vanilla bean to the batter and stir

Melt chocolate chips and butter in a small saucepan over low heat or in the microwave; mixture will get very thick

Add chocolate to the filling still in the mixer and combine thoroughly

Pour chocolate batter over crust and bake for 15 minutes

 

Remove from oven and pour remaining cheesecake filling on top

Bake for 33-38 minutes or until edges begin to separate from foil and middle bounces slightly when touched

Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight

Remove cheesecake from pan and cut into small bars

Vanilla Bean and Chocolate Cheesecake Bars

Adapted from this recipe which was adapted from The Curvy Carrot

Makes 36 small bars

Ingredients:

Crust:

1 1/4 cups of Oreo cookie crumbs (about 17 cookies); I used reduced fat Oreos

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

Filling:

2 8-ounce packages light cream cheese softened at room temperature

1 3/4 cup granulated sugar

3 large eggs

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 vanilla bean (if leaving this out, replace with 1 tablespoon of additional vanilla extract)

Pinch of salt

6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) unsalted butter

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees

Line a 13×9 pan with tin foil and spray with cooking spray, set aside

To make the crust, grind up about 17 Oreos in a food processor until fine; set cookie crumbs aside

Melt 4 tablespoons of butter in the microwave and pour over cookie crumbs

Add 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar and mix until well combined

Press mixture into a 9×13 pan lined with tin foil and cooking spray; spread evenly using fingers to push down crust mixture and set aside

To make your cheesecake filling, beat cream cheese in mixer until light, creamy and lumps are gone (about 5 minutes)

Add granulated sugar and combine on medium-high speed well until light and creamy

Beat in eggs, one at a time, on medium speed

Mix in flour on medium speed

Add vanilla extract and salt and beat until mixture is thick and creamy

Now, separate 1/2 of the cheesecake filling and set aside in a separate bowl; add vanilla bean and stir

Melt chocolate chips and butter in a small saucepan over low heat or in the microwave; mixture will get very thick

Add chocolate to the filling still in the mixer and combine thoroughly

Pour chocolate batter over crust and bake for 15 minutes

Remove from oven and pour remaining cheesecake filling on top

Bake for 33-38 minutes or until edges begin to separate from foil and middle bounces slightly when touched

Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight

Remove cheesecake from pan and cut into small bars

 Notes:

I used light cream cheese because I wanted a final product that wasn’t overly rich, but regular cream cheese would work as well

When cutting the bars, I recommend cleaning your knife with a paper towel between slices to keep from contaminating the layers with one another

Do you have any expensive ingredients that you can’t live without?

Read Full Post »

For the Chocoholics

Every time I visit my parents, my mom and I email constantly the week before about what we will bake.  There are always too many things for us to try, so it’s usually a pretty fattening special looking recipe that makes the cut.  Last weekend we made Picky Palate’s Chocolate Chip Oreo Cookie Sandwiches and Candy Bar Chocolate Chip Cookie Sandwiches.  They were amazing.

This weekend I couldn’t help but be inspired by those delicious cookies.  As if a chocolate chip cookie stuffed with a Snickers Bar or Oreo Cookie wasn’t enough, I had to take it a step further for all of the chocoholics out there.  Why not take one of my favorite chocolate cookie recipes and stuff it with chocolate candy?  I made Stuffed Triple Chocolate Cookies.

I’ll be honest, I haven’t tasted them yet.  I am on my 6th day of a week-long deprivation vegan challenge and baking these was an extreme form of torture.  Luckily, I have the Husband to do my taste testing for me in a time like this.  If the number of Hershey Kiss stuffed cookies he ate is any reflection of the verdict, I’d say these are a winner.  Trust me, though, when vegan week is over, I’ll be inhaling a dozen cookies doing my own “quality control”.  (More on Vegan week in an upcoming post!)

The Triple Chocolate Cookie dough is adapted from Jill O’Connor’s Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey.  I’ve made the cookies using her exact recipe as a standalone cookie and they never disappoint.  You may remember my Gooey Caramel Butter Bars were also from that cookbook.

To begin, you take semi-sweet and unsweetened chocolate along with a stick of butter and place them in a microwave-safe bowl

Microwave the ingredients for a minute and stir; microwave again for 30-second increments until everything is almost melted; stir the remaining lumps until smooth and do not overheat.  Set aside

Whisk together dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, and salt) and set aside

In your mixer, combine eggs, sugars and vanilla

Beat on high speed for about 5 minutes or until mixture is light and fluffy

Reduce the speed of your mixer and add in melted chocolate and butter

When that is well-combined, stir in flour mixture but do not over-mix

Stir in chocolate chips

Refrigerate cookie dough for an hour or more prior to making the cookies

Choose any chocolate candies of your preference.  Smaller candies will yield more cookies.  I selected these chocolate meltaway Kisses  because, well, why not make these as intensely chocolate as possible?

Other candy included dark chocolate Peanut Butter cups and Peppermint Patties.  Once dough is chilled, pre-heat oven and unwrap your chocolates

Use a cookie dough scoop to form balls of dough; place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Place candy on top of dough mound and then push down

Gently form cookie dough around the candy until it is completely covered; it might be easier if you freeze your Peppermint Patties first because they can break if you push too hard with the cookie dough

Repeat process

Use just enough cookie dough to cover the candy; size will be about 50% larger than candy alone

Make sure your candy is completely covered with dough or you may end up with some oozing like my Peppermint Patty cookies experienced

Bake the cookies for about 9 minutes and set aside on a cooling rack to cool

This is the deliciousness you will experience when you bite into the different cookies:

Stuffed Triple Chocolate Cookies

Inspired by Picky Palate and adapted from Jill O’Connor

Makes ~50 cookies (more cookies with small candy, but less with large)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate

7 ounces unsweetened chocolate

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 large eggs at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Place semi-sweet and unsweetened chocolate with butter in a microwave-safe bowl

Microwave the ingredients for a minute and stir; microwave again for 30-second increments until everything is almost melted; stir the remaining lumps until smooth.  Set aside

Whisk together dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, and salt) and set aside

In your mixer, combine eggs, sugars and vanilla; beat on high speed for about 5 minutes or until mixture is light and fluffy

Reduce the speed of your mixer and add in melted chocolate and butter

When that is well-combined, stir in flour mixture but do not over-mix

Stir in chocolate chips

Refrigerate cookie dough for an hour or more prior to making the cookies

Once dough is chilled, pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and unwrap your chocolates

Use a cookie dough scoop to form balls of dough; place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Place candy on top of dough mound and then push down

Gently form cookie dough around the candy until it is completely covered; repeat (make sure your candy is completely covered with dough)

Bake the cookies for 9-10 minutes and set aside on a cooling rack to cool

[Edited to add] Note:  The Peppermint Patty and Hershey Kiss versions were the most popular.  I think the larger Reeses Cups would be better so that the candy is in every bite.

What candy would you put in your cookies?

Read Full Post »

My Favorite Ice Cream Brownie

Last weekend was very exciting, we celebrated the engagement of Adam and Sara (my brother-in-law and future sister-in-law)!  Lots of champagne was involved and of course I had to bake for the occasion.

The happy couple:

Me with the new member of the family:

Looks like Matt and I are now the old married couple of the group;-)

The celebration was just a few days after my father-in-law’s birthday so I made this cake for him.  For the new engaged couple, I made a personalized Ice Cream Brownie.  I was very excited when Adam decided to propose to Sara.  When I asked what Sara’s favorite dessert is, he said she loves brownies with ice cream.  It didn’t take me more than a minute to decide what to make.

This is a dessert I’ve made often in the past, but the flavors always change depending on who I am baking for.  The basics stay the same:  brownie bottom, hot fudge and oreos on top of that, then cool whip and an ice cream of choice.  Pretty easy and oh so delicious.  ALWAYS a big hit.

Like I’ve said in the past, when there are enough tasty ingredients, lower fat parts don’t take away from the final product.  These No Pudge brownies are perfect for this recipe.  They are chewy and chocolaty, even when frozen, but not too rich to layer in this dessert.

Brownie mix + yogurt + stir = easy!

Spread batter thinly in a 13 x 9 pan sprayed with cooking spray

Bake for about 20 minutes, or until knife comes out clean

Next step- hot fudge and oreos

You can crush the oreos in a ziploc bag by hand while your brownie is baking

Spread the brownie with hot fudge before it is completely cool, it will be very easy to spread that way

Then cover the hot fudge with a full layer of crushed oreos

Then cover this entire layer in cool whip

Since Adam and Sara have different favorite flavors that don’t really go together, mint and peanut butter, I spilt the dessert in half with a wall of oreos

Once you have a full layer of cool whip, freeze the dessert for about a half hour

Next layer is ice cream

Spread your ice cream over the layer of cool whip

While I was planning the dessert, I realized we might want a way to identify each side before digging in

Pepperment patties and peanut butter cups

Once all of the ice cream is covered in cool whip, sprinkle the corresponding candy flavors on each side

And serve to the happy couple

Ice Cream Brownie

Adapted from the Original Baker

Serves 12, generously

Ingredients:

1 box No Pudge Brownie (or brownie mix of choice) and ingredients listed on box

1 cup hot fudge

12 oreos

4 8 ounce containers of cool whip, defrosted

1/2 gallon ice cream (or 1/2 container each of 2 different flavors), slightly softened

20 pieces chocolate candy

Directions:

Bake brownie in a 13×9 baking pan sprayed with cooking spray, following instructions on box; bake for about 20 minutes or until knife comes out clean

While brownie is baking, crush oreos in a ziploc bag and set aside

Allow brownie to cool for about 10 minutes and then spread full layer of hot fudge

Layer crushed oreos over hot fudge

Spread 3 of the 4 containers of cool whip over oreos

Freeze layered dessert for about 30 minutes, or until cool whip layer is firm

Chop candy pieces while dessert is in freezer and set aside

Spread ice cream over top of cool whip

Cover ice cream with a thin layer of cool whip using 4th container

Sprinkle candy pieces over cool whip

Serve immediately or cover baking pan with tightly foil and freeze until serving

Have you celebrated anyone’s engagement recently?

Read Full Post »